Chapter 38 Section thirty-eight

Kneeling and exiting, he returned to the court room of the House of Internal Affairs. Before he could sit down, the internal affairs office sent a sealed Zhu Yu, which was written by the Empress Dowager Cixi himself: "Prince Jin is on behalf of Prince Gong. If there is any inappropriateness, I will warn you." Of course, King Chun was very upset when he touched such a big thorn, and immediately left the palace in a sedan chair.Not long after returning to the mansion, Prince Li, Sun Yuwen and Xu Gengshen got the news that they had all arrived. They came to find out why the Empress Dowager Cixi was angered and why she didn't save him some face and delivered an order?But he didn't know how to speak, so he had to talk about the usual business.

When it was time to say goodbye, Chun Wang himself kept silent.When King Li stood up, King Chun said first, "Uncle Xing, please sit down for a while." King Li didn't understand the intention of leaving Xu Geng's body alone, Sun Yuwen roughly guessed it, but the guest who was left fully understood.Sure enough, they faced each other, and Xu Geng was told all the reasons why King Chun would be punished. "It's really my fault." Xu Geng said anxiously, "It's because my ideas are not wise enough that the prince is affected." "It has nothing to do with you!" King Chun shook his hand, "I figured it out on the way. The higher-ups don't do anything to me, just let Bao Peiheng and the others know, so we don't have to expect Jianyuan to recover."

"Yes!" Xu Geng pointed out the Empress Dowager Cixi's intentions at this time, "Actually, the superiors are protecting the prince and letting the sixth master see the prince. The prince has suffered for his brother. Speaking of it, he can see the brotherhood of the prince, which is deep and sincere. .” "Yeah!" King Chun was happy, "It's nothing. I don't need to learn from the garden, just let him know that those rumors with ulterior motives outside, saying that I squeezed him out, are not valid, so then Enough." According to this, the idea that Xu Geng came up with had an unexpected effect.In the past few months, there have been many rumors, all saying that Wang Jing is very eager to move, disregarding the feelings of friends, and slandering and seizing power, the means are too ruthless.Of course, this is not an unfounded view, so it is difficult to defend.And it is really a wonderful thing that there is such a mistake, an opportunity that appears unintentionally, and the slander can be reduced.

Therefore, King Chun trusted Xu Gengshen even more, "Uncle Xing," he said, "You keep guard, and there will be a lack of ministers. I will protect you." "My lord cultivated it!" Xu Geng greeted him and thanked him. "There's one thing I don't understand." Prince Chun brought the topic back to Prince Gong, "How could the superiors guess what you and I did?" Xu Geng thought for a while and replied: "Maybe some smart people saw through the mechanism and said something in front of the Queen Mother?" King Chun nodded and asked, "Who is this?"

"Then it's impossible to guess. The prince is a grand duke, and he only hopes that the sixth master can serve the country and help the country in times of difficulty, but there are some people who don't want the sixth master to come out of the mountain." "True! But who is it?" Xu Gengshen already felt that he had talked too much and was too explicit, so naturally he refused to say more.However, King Jin kept asking, but it was inconvenient to remain silent, so Gu said to him: "I heard a piece of news two days ago. It seemed strange, but it couldn't be ignored. You might as well tell the prince. It is said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is discussing the matter again. Now, I'm going to repair the garden for the Queen Mother."

"Oh!" Chun Wang raised his face and said hurriedly, "Is there such a thing?" "Yes. There is such a thing. And it has been talked about clearly and clearly." "This...," Chun Wang said with a dignified expression, "it's really not a good thing! Are those people playing tricks?" "It's nothing more than the group of people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Some have worked in the past, and some are in the present." Xu Geng refused to name him, and said, "It doesn't matter if those people are instigating this matter. The same one."

"Let me listen first, what do they say?" Xu Geng explained it in detail, but there are some things that he didn't mention. The first is that he didn't want to say that those people were instigating it. The second reason is that it is inconvenient to speak in front of King Chun.The people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs have deep plans, and if they are not successful, they will be counted as failure. If King Chun hadn't been in power, they would not have dared to think about it. In the twelfth year of Tongzhi, they would not forget the uproar caused by the rebuilding of the Summer Palace.At that time, with the strength of Cixi and Mu Zong's mother and son united together, it was impossible to do this, just to be hindered by two people.

One is Empress Dowager Ci'an and the other is Prince Gong.The old man of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can still describe it: Whenever the empress dowagers of the two palaces, accompanied by the emperor, visited the Xiyuan, and saw a small dilapidated place, the empress dowager Cixi would always point to it and say: "This should be repaired!" And Prince Gong, who was at his side, always put on a straight face, straightened his waist, and answered in a sharp voice: "Zha!" At the same time, the Empress Dowager Ci'an would often say next: "It is time to repair it. I just don't have money, so what can I do?"

The two uncles and sisters-in-law sang together, which often made the Empress Dowager Cixi speechless. She was sullen several times, but she kept silent.However, those who know the Empress Dowager Cixi know that she will never lose her breath, and now is the time to vent her anger.Empress Dowager Ci'an collapsed, Prince Gong was deposed, and no one dared to protest face to face.Of course King Chun would not agree, but Empress Dowager Cixi would not fear him, and he would not dare to violate Empress Dowager Cixi's will, so there is no need to worry. If you want to tell the truth, it will be a face-to-face scolding, so Xu Geng can't mention King Gong himself.In addition, the reason why the Ministry of Internal Affairs thinks the timing is perfect is that the emperor is about to take charge of the government, and the Empress Dowager Cixi is over half a hundred years old. She should also build a garden for her.

"There are such reasons!" King Chun said with a wry smile, "Even if it makes sense, it can't be brought up at this time. The state affairs are like this, and I don't think the higher-ups are willing to make large-scale construction to attract people's grievances." "Of course we won't be able to talk until after the reconciliation." "Reconcile!" King Chun asked loudly, "When will we be able to make peace? Just reconcile, and you can't lose your teacher and humiliate the country. In my opinion, they are delusional!" "Yes! I hope they are delusion."

This sentence has a lot of meaning, Chun Wang thought about it carefully, and said with a sigh of relief: "No way! If they dare to think about it, I will fight for it!" "To be honest, the lord really has to fight! Not to mention that the war is urgent and the military expenditure is huge, even if it can be reconciled, it is a long-distance plan, and the navy must do it. How much money?" "Yeah!" Chun Wang Quran asked: "This has to be planned early, and it will cost at least five or six million." "More than that?" Xu Geng shook his head, "I'll tell the prince." He made the estimate based on the coastal defense funds already spent by Beiyang.According to Li Hongzhang's memorabilia: From the first year to the sixth year of Guangxu, the coastal defense funds received a total of 4.8 million yuan, and the expenditure was 3.8 million yuan.Since the seventh year of Guangxu, the three steel-faced iron-clad warships named "Dingyuan", "Zhenyuan" and "Jiyuan" have not yet been completed. The cost is 4.5 million.Including other coastal defense funds during these four years, there are at least 1.5 million. In total, in the past ten years, Li Hongzhang alone has spent 10 million taels of silver. "In the future, we will need to add at least four steel-faced ironclad ships to build a large navy, and we will need six million silver. If there are ships, there will be no one without them. The number of staff will be increased, and the salaries and salaries of foreigners will be considerable. In addition, we will buy more guns and guns. It takes a lot of money to buy medicine and build a fort. In any case, it takes 10 million silver to deal with it.” It is not easy to raise this tens of millions of silver, and if you build a garden, you will get several million silver.Since ancient times, there are no more than two things that waste people's money and money, one is militarism, and the other is large-scale construction.One and the same cannot be done, let alone both at the same time?Today, it is not the same as in the past, surrounded by strong enemies, and cannot resist foreign aggression without a strong armor. This level of reasoning is easy to understand, King Chun thought, with the shrewdness of the Empress Dowager Cixi, she will never fail to see this, even if someone instigates it, as long as there is a word of mouth, there will be strong words and forceful words on the way, so I might as well make the best use of the situation and use the camera politely Persuasion, God's will can always be redeemed. After thinking about this, he felt calm, "It doesn't matter!" He said calmly, "A villain will never succeed!" The ingenuity of the "little man" is ten hundred times stronger than that of the king of alcohol, and the situation he foresees cannot be allowed to happen.Li Lianying, who instigated and presided over the matter, had prepared countermeasures long ago, and only waited for the opportunity to speak out. Five days before Empress Dowager Cixi's longevity, the palace was divided into two places to celebrate her birthday, one was the Ningshou Palace and the other was the Changchun Palace.Empress Dowager Cixi specially moved to Chuxiu Palace where she was born and raised Mu Zong, and temporarily set up a stage in Changchun Palace, summoned her favorite characters, and sang her favorite plays.Sing every day until eight or nine o'clock in the evening. After the show, there are only two people serving at night, one is Princess Rongshou and the other is Li Lianying.On the eighth day of October, Princess Rongshou had a headache and fever, and she couldn't get out of bed. Li Lianying was the only one to accompany her, and it happened to talk about the emperor's personal administration. As usual, this is also the time when Empress Dowager Cixi listens to the news.Li Lianying, as her main informer, has her own secrets and strange things collected from all directions, some of which are rumors, some of which are minor matters, and some of which are not complete and detailed. Which ones can be heard, and which ones must be kept secret?Which ones should be sidelined, and which ones should be embellished? On this day, a piece of news that Li Lianying talked about was spread among the officials in Guangzhou. It involved a Hanlin, and after a book was written, tens of thousands of silver were distributed. "Isn't that buying ginseng?" The Empress Dowager Cixi thought about it carefully, and she couldn't help being surprised that there hadn't been any major ginseng cases recently, but of course she was also very concerned. Li Lianying thought to herself: It's not about buying ginseng, but about buying an imperial decree.But you can't say that, it will appear disrespectful to the edict.He said with a smile: "Buying ginseng, can this be hidden from Lafayette's eyes? It was a matter of permission or not, so I dared to try it. It seems that I have tried it." "Oh," Empress Dowager Cixi asked, "what's the matter?" "It's Guangdong Kaiwei Gambling Bureau..." It is a great virtue of Zhang Shusheng to supervise Guangdong, but he has violated the big taboo of "doing not offend the rich family in politics", because all gambling games in Guangdong are controlled by wealthy gentry.This generation is also well-known, even has a family name, and when he lives in the countryside, he is Mr. Jinshen, who goes in and out of the government and sits on an equal footing. In Beijing, he relies on the friendship of his hometown, years, relatives, and friends. A gentleman can say "with strength". Zhang Zhidong will be an official, willing to do things, and responsible, just like Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, who aided Fujian, Taiwan, and Nanyang, and imitated Zuo Zongtang's method to borrow foreign debts In addition, using the reason of Haiphong's contribution to pay, he secretly banned gambling in Guangzhou. The largest and most profitable bet is the Wei surname, which was banned in Guangdong and moved to Macau, which turned into an overflow of power.Although Zhang Zhidong rebelled against Zhang Shusheng's prohibition with open eyes and closed eyes, private gambling should not be a big deal, and only the results of the annual and scientific examinations of scholars are used for divination, and the scale is not large.This year Jiashen, next year's Yiyou, Zi, Wu, Mao, and Youxiang examinations, and the next Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei examinations, if the ban can be lifted, from next autumn to the next spring, in just half a year, you can make a fortune . Therefore, some people went to Zhang Zhidong in the name of paying for the coastal defense army, hoping to officially lift the ban.After all, Zhang Zhidong was also afraid of clear discussion, and he dared not make any promises publicly, but only said that if there was a will, he would definitely follow it. So the noble gentry with the surname Wei in Guangdong collected a huge sum of money, no less than 200,000 yuan, and went to Beijing to manage it.First of all, I want to ask the speakers from Guangdong to play, but those speakers also cherish the feathers and refuse to agree.Finally, I found a Hanlin named Pan Shizhao, a native of Nanhai County, Guangzhou Prefecture. .Poor and bored, willing to do this "business". The "gamble" placed by the wealthy gentry in Guangdong was huge, and they gave Pan Shizhao 60,000 taels for the first time. The noble gentry in Guangdong made a promise, but God's will is unpredictable. If he is severely punished because of this, he is willing to give him hundreds of thousands of silver for retirement. The gentry in Guangdong thought that Pan Shizhao would do his best under the heavy reward, make a passionate speech, and ask for the relaxation of the restraint.Pan Shizhao, on the other hand, felt very obedient, and knew very well the imperial court's rules and regulations. When encountering such a situation, he would go to the Xinjiang officials to discuss a reply, and Zhang Zhidong would definitely agree in order to help raise wages, so he immediately decided how to word this booklet. With calculation.It's just that he was afraid that it would be too easy, and the noble gentry would regret it, so he shook his head and said it was difficult, and then thought hard.At the same time, it is stated that no matter how he plays, as long as the ban on the surname is finally lifted, he will have to collect the reward of hundreds of thousands of silver. The noble gentry in Guangdong answered very happily, as long as the decree permits, they will pay immediately as soon as they see the mansion banknote. If they don't believe it, they can also ask the "Guangxu Yiyou Nianwei Surname Donation Bureau" to issue an IOU first.This is modeled on the method of buying a gunman, with responsibilities linked to each other.In the township examination in the year of Yiyou, if the ban on the surname is relaxed and a donation bureau is set up, of course you can get money with this IOU, otherwise, this IOU will become useless paper. So Pan Shizhao wrote a memorial, the text is very simple, saying, "Guangdong's surname is a gambling game, and it has been repeatedly banned. Now a company is opened in Macau, and the benefits belong to other families. Since the sea defense needs wages, please order the governor of Guangdong Province. Is the surname strictly forbidden, or should the surname be temporarily relaxed in the provincial capital?" A clip is attached, saying that the deputy general Peng Yu, together with traitors, secretly took the surname, implying that the power has spilled out.And the sentence "whether the surname of Macau can be strictly prohibited" is just a pen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the governor of Guangdong have no control over Macau at all.It's just that although this stroke is unreasonable, it is indispensable, otherwise it will become an advocacy of gambling, which is not only not allowed to be discussed, but first of all, the bachelor in charge of the academy will not act on his behalf. Sure enough, the head of the Imperial Academy, Linggui, a scholar of Wuyingdian University, carefully reviewed his excerpts, and thought that the arguments were not biased, so he began to act on his behalf.And, as Pan Shizhao expected, the original document was handed over to Zhang Zhidong and the governor of Guangdong for "negotiation and performance". The news ended here, and it was just used as an introduction. Li Lianying turned sharply and said: "It's really unfair to think about it!" "That's strange!" said the Empress Dowager Cixi. "Other people are willing to pay a lot of money for such a book, as long as the book is reasonable, they can't refute him. Why are you unfair?" "I'm not talking about that Pan Shizhao. I'm just thinking: First, if the surname in Guangdong is banned, they are willing to pay for the army. As long as you look for it with your heart, money is everywhere. Now all the provinces are crying poor, and they are comfortable, so they don't want to read the court. , it really shouldn’t be.” Naturally, the Empress Dowager Cixi could hear those words, but she didn't say anything, she just asked, "What about the second one?" "Secondly, the slaves are even more unfair. The imperial court saves money everywhere, arranges food and salaries for them everywhere, and Lafayette rewards them with his own body when they win a battle. But those people outside, why don't they think that the money is not easy to come by? How much painstaking efforts did the imperial court have? Let’s just say that the ponytail is ready, I have worked so hard to set up a shipping bureau, built more than a dozen boats, and spent half a day teaching foreigners to blow them up, throwing millions of silver into the vast ocean, the slaves really feel distressed.” "Ah!" The Empress Dowager Cixi sighed, "You still understand!" With this sentence, why is Li Lianying hesitating? "The slave has something else to say." He pretended to be daring, "I wonder if I can say it?" "What? You say it." "The slave was thinking, throwing money in the water, there is still a sound. Millions of silver were used to build military ships, but there was no sign of it, and it was gone. I don't know what kind of ship it is?Is it worth the money? Li Lianying paused for a moment, as if gaining momentum, and finally burst out the words: "If they can't make fun of them, it's better for Lafayette to come and make fun of them!" "This sentence shocked the Empress Dowager Cixi, she scowled and scolded: "Why do you want to come here! What do you mean by that? " Li Lianying, who is good at seeing the color, was not intimidated by the angry face of the Empress Dowager Cixi. On the contrary, if she ignored it and didn't comment, it would be bad.As long as she pays attention to this sentence, she will naturally think about it and figure it out. Therefore, he calmly, with a clear conscience: "After all, it is still the slave who is unfair for Lafayette. Back then, half of the country was in danger? It was almost the end of the game. If Lafayette could not hold it down, what would happen today? Slave I have another idea." This time he used a positive approach: "If the Lafayette promises, the slave will not be angry, and the slave will dare to speak." The Empress Dowager Cixi was angry and disappeared in the sentence "If Lafayette hadn't been able to hold it down, there would be today". "Say it!" She nodded, "I'm not angry." "The slaves often told Cui Yugui and the others: If Lafayette was a man, he would be Lord Qianlong. There is Lord Qianlong's wisdom, but also Lord Qianlong's prosperity. Lafayette's temperament is competitive, just like Lord Qianlong. Today, Lafayette What I was thinking about was to avenge Lord Xianfeng and fight for that tone. Didn’t the foreigners burn the Old Summer Palace back then, and Lord Xianfeng was in agony, so the holy body became weaker every day, and finally died? Now we still build another garden, see Can foreigners move it?" These words became faster and faster, and the more they said, the more passionate they became. Regardless of what he meant, just the look on his face made the Empress Dowager Cixi excited too.However, when I think back to the uproar caused by the garden repair in the last years of Tongzhi, I can't help being sad and indignant. Her silence, her tears, are all proofs that Li Lianying has moved her.Of course, he also knew what the Empress Dowager Cixi was worried about, but these worries no longer existed, but she might not have thought about it for a while, so it was time to remind her side-by-side. Thinking of stopping, he said again: "Lafayette has worked so hard for so many years, and now he has taught him to be an emperor. According to the rules of the ancestors in the past dynasties, the emperor should repair the garden and honor the old Buddha. There is a saying that'There are no rules, there are no rules, and there are rules. Mie', even if Liu Ye is in the military plane today, he can't say anything!" This said, Cixi's heart is wide.Not bad, there will be no objection among relatives and nobles, what about the speaker?Zhang Peilun was disheartened; Chen Baochen was overwhelmed with self-care; Zhang Zhidong was so proud of himself that he didn't dare or know how to remonstrate him. There were almost only two people left who dared to speak out, one was Sheng Yu, who had already made up the Guozijian's sacrificial wine, and his sharpness was not as good as before;This is also a wonderful arrangement. Whoever wants to make indiscriminate comments and make high-profile voices will be sent to places he does not want to go.In the past, Wo Ren opposed the establishment of Tongwen Museum, and he used this method to deal with it. Now it is the same with Deng Chengxiu and his ilk. But there is still one person who has to be on guard, Yan Jingming is the most economical, so he must not take it seriously.But it doesn't matter, just take him away and find someone who is deeply gracious and obedient. In the end, it's still a word of money, "No way!" She shook her head, "We want to run a navy. An iron-clad ship costs one or two million silver. After all, I'm afraid it's not tens of millions? Where's the spare money to repair the garden?" "Running the Navy is a major national event, but it doesn't necessarily cost that much money." Li Lianying said in a very forceful voice, "As long as Master Qi and Li Zhongtang hold hands tighter, we can save a garden no matter what!" In a word, the Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly realized and was full of joy. It turns out that the method of entrainment can be used to manage the navy and repair the garden at the same time. All the costs of materials are paid for by the navy.The last time the Summer Palace was built, it aroused a lot of "discussion", all because of the fanfare and the fact that it was well known throughout the country.If it wasn't for the distribution of donations, the public decree, and the appointment of the Minister of Internal Affairs to handle the matter, it wasn't for making a big joke about Li Guangzhao repaying Mu Zhi. , Is it true that there are still people who dare to tear down the newly built garden? Thinking this way, I suddenly understood.Immediately, a picture of jade carved railings, Chongloujie Pavilion, sunrise and sunset, and a myriad of majestic scenery floated in front of my eyes.The hope that has been dreamed and labored for so many years can be grasped at once for no reason!Isn't this too mysterious? Just because of this feeling of not believing it to be true, she was able to put aside this good thing that can make people so happy that they can't sleep. "The emperor is about to get married!" She changed the subject suddenly, "The next thing is to be in charge. What do you mean by these two important events? You should inquire when you have time!" "Yes! The servant has been paying attention " Li Lianying said again, "Now Lafayette alone makes the decision, and things will definitely go smoothly." "Lafayette makes up his own mind!" The Empress Dowager Cixi recited this sentence several times silently, with indescribable comfort in her heart, but also indescribable emotion, vigilance and ambition. "Yes!" she said to herself, "I'm the only one who makes up my mind. While this is the moment...." She didn't go on, but said to herself in her heart: "At this moment, when the emperor is not in charge and the power is in hand, you should make a good decision for yourself."